Daftmill 15yo ‘Fife Strength’ – 56.3%

Daftmill have a brand new batch of 15 year old to release into the market. So this latest Daftmill 15 year old is a little different to the previous 15 year old batches. This will be the third stab Francis has had at a 15 and it is unique as it’s not only ‘Fife Strength’ bottled at 56.3%, but it has a cask of PX in it. Why is this in any way interesting? To the best of my knowledge, all of the Daftmill summer and winter releases have been 100% Bourbon barrels except the Sumer 2009. In the summer 2009 there was a single cask of something sherry in there, pretty sure it was an oloroso. I quite liked this, but all his seasonal releases after have been first fill American oak. Both Daftmill 15 year olds have also been all first fill American oak.

Anyhow, I think this makes his new 15 year old quite exciting as it is the first batch outwith the summer 2009 to have a sherry component. And that component being PX is pretty cool. This 15 Year Old Daftmill is Undeniably Daftmill. Nose full of the sweet tropical notes we look for but with a rich sweetness. Lots of the barley sugar and malt on the palate I look for from his distillate, but with a distinct sweet dark fruit uplift on the finish that lets you know there’s a little sherry in there. A deep, complex lengthy dram that does not need to be black as night to be fantastic.